Building construction



July 14,1931. c. H. BRAINARD ETA-L 1 BUILDING CONSTRUCTIQN' Filed April10-, 1926 a Sheets-Sheet 1 July 14, 1931. c. H. BRAINARD ETAL N1,313,909

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed April 10, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 14,1931. c. H. BRA'NARD mm. 1,313,909

BUILDING cons'rauc'uos Filed April 10, 1926 s sums-shut a Patented July14, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE CLARENCE H. BRAINARD, 0F GLENDALE,REGINALD G. CARBINGTON, OF SANTA MONICA, AND ALBERT F. COOKIE, OFNIIOSANGELES, CALIFORNIA ASSIGNORS TO EDWIN H. PIERSEN, 0F LOS ANGELES,CALIFORNIA u BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Application filed April 10, 1926.Serial No. 101,063.

This invention relates to means employed forthe construction ofbuildings, and refers particularly to means adapted to provide astructural steel building.

Heretofore, the use of structural steel in buildings has been generallylimited to buildings of very large size and the buildings have beenconstructed by first constructing or assembling in situ the structuralsteel frame of the building. We have devised a means for,

constructing structural steel buildings which is adapted for theconstruction of small buildings at a lower cost than the ordinary woodframe buildings and, moreover, we have devised a means for constructingbuildings by which a small, light structural steel building may. beproduced from units made at a factory or other locality located at adistance from the place where the building is to be constructed. Theseunits not only contain the structural steel frame for. the building butthe said frame is united with the materials for forming the walls,floors, ceilings or roof of the building so that by merely assembling ofthe different units, not only is the structural steel for the buildingfixed in place but at the same time, the walls, ceiling, floors and roofof the building are com pleted.

The invention with various other objects and advantages thereof willbest be understood from a description of a preferred form or means forconstructing buildings embodying the invention. For this purpose,reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a finished building constructed by the useof the meansforming the subject matter of the present invention,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional eleva-' tion of the building,

Figure 3 is a section on line 33 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Figure. 2,

Figure 5 isa transverse section through a 1 pair of the structural unitsor wall panels of the invention disclosing the connecting meanstherebetween,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary section of a pair of the structural unitsshowing the corner connections employed in assembling the same into astructural steel building,

Figure 7 is a fragmentary section of one of the panels adjacent thefloor of the build- Figure 11 is a fragmentary section of a modifiedpair of structural units and the connecting means therebetween.

Referring to the drawings, the means for constructing the building isillustrated as comprising mainly structural units 2 made up of suitablewalling material encased in rectangular form by metal members 3 whichare adapted to act, when the panels are assembled or united into abuilding, as a structural steel frame for the building. These metalmembers 3 are disposed on the outer sides or edges of the body of eachunit, and are preferably in the form of channel irons with their flangesturned in so that the walling material is set into the grooves of thechannel irons. The material employed to form the major portion of thewall that is encased by such channel irons 3 may be of Various kinds.Preferably,'however, it consists in part at least of hardened,cementitious material such as plaster or stucco. The most desirable typeof such walling is that illustrated in Figure 5, in which there is showna body having a central sheet 4 of a light,

porous material, such as fibre compositions,

asbestos, cork, or the. like, which central sheet is thus adapted to actas an especially eflicient heat insulating material. For most.

of the structural units employed in a building, said sheet 41of fibrousmaterial is covas before stated, be plaster of Paris, stucco,

or other like materials and the sheets 5, and 6 are preferably moldedinto the rectangular frame formed by the channel irons 3 before theentire unit 2 is transported to the place in which the building is to beconstructed. The unit 2 so constructed is adapted to act as the entirewalling of a building, reenforced and held in position by its edgeencasing channel irons 3. The surface of the strip may be employed asthe finished ornamental interior or exterior wall surface in which casethe surfaces may be suitably decorated before the units are moved to thesitus of the building, or in order to provide the interior finish, theunits may be painted or tinted after the building is constructed, orother coats of finishing material, paper, sanitas, or the like, placedover the surface of the units in accordance with the particularappearance desired.

The units 2 thus described, are employed as the sides, ceilings, roof,and at times, the fioor ofv a proposed building construction. For thispurpose, it is merely necessary to provide suitable fastening or unitingmeans for rigidly holding together the different units as they are setin. their desired place. Various examples of such uniting means areillustrated in the construction of the building of Figure 1. Referringto Figure 5,

when two adjacent units 2 are to be set edgewise together and held inosition, their angle irons forming their a utting edges closely adjoinand the meeting line between the same is covered on either side with astrip or bar of metal 7 and 8, preferably of a width suflicient to coverthe metal angle irons and said strips or bars 7 and.8 of metal, aresuitably. clamped or held together as by bolts or rivets 9.

A preferred form of corner construction is shown in Figure 6, in whichtwo of the structural units are shown meeting at 90 degree angles. Theseunits are brought together so that their inner edges are spaced apart,as at 10, andthen an angle iron 11 is set in along the inner corner, ofsufficient width .to cover the exposed edges of the channel irons 3 ofthe units 2 and an enlarged angle iron 12 is laced along the outercorner, likewise of su cient width to cover the outer sides of thechannel iron 3. These angle irons are suitably attached, fastened oraffixed to the channel irons 3 of the units so that the cornerconstruction is made rigid. For this purpose, they may be welded,riveted, bolted, or screwed thereto, or united in any other desiredmanner.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the roof 14 of the building may beconstructed of the same units, although usually for the roofconstruction, it is not necessary to provide in the units 2 a layer ofcementitious material on both sides of the fibrous sheet 4:. Ac-

cordingly, the upper sheet of cementitious material is left out of theunits 2 which are to be employed in the roof construction at the timethese units are formed. This leaves, as shown in Figure 4, the upperside of the angle iron exposed to act as a hook. T-irons 15 are set withtheir top sides 16 against the abutting angle irons 3 of the units 2 ofthe roof, and the T-irons 15 are held thereto by the clamps 17 and bolt18, which clamps 17 have portions which extend or hook into the lowersides of the channel irons 3. The upper side of the adjoiningunits 2 ofthe roof are held together by the metal strips 19 which are shown asgalvanized iron members having an inverted V upper side.20 and withhook-shaped sides 21 which extend under the upper sides of the channelirons 3.

Irons 22 are employed as beams under the roof 14: of the building andthe ceiling of the building is likewise formed of the structural units2, having the edge encasing'channcl irons 3. The ceiling structuralunits likewise usually require only a single cementitious sheet and inthis case, theupper cementitious sheet is shown as omitted. In order toprovide a top bracing for the ceiling, hook members 23 are hooked underthe upper sides of the channel irons 3 of adjoining structural unitswhich form the ceiling. These hook members 23 are mounted upon a rod 25which, at its upper end, is provided with a hook 26'by which it issupported on the beam iron 22. The rods 25 are provided with nuts 27which provide a means by which the supporting means for the ceiling maybe adjusted.

Referring to lower end of one of the units 2 which'is employed at thefloor of the building. The units or panels meeting the floor of thebuilding may, if desired, have a wood strip 28 formed into thestructural unit .atits lower edge so that the wood strip 28 is adaptedto facilitate the attaching of wood strips around the floor of thebuilding. It is, of course, obvious that other material may besubstituted for wood for this purpose.

In Figure 1, there is indicated the appear- Figure 7 there is shown theance of a building constructed of the units of the present invention. Asappears from Figure 1, the metal bars 7 covering the channel irons 3 atthe junction of the structural units 2 suitably break up the surface ofthe building to assist in ornamenting the same.

Referring to Figure 8, the peak of the roof is covered by a sheet metalmember 29 hooked under the channel irons 3 of the units 2, forming theroof. In Figure 10, a modified conbent in against the inner sides of thechannel irons 3, as indicated at 31.

Referring to Figure 9, the building units are fixed to the foundation 32by mounting two channel irons 33 and 34 back to back under the sidestructural units 2. Short sections of channel irons 35 are then set.with their lower flanges resting on the foundation 32;

these units are of suflicient height to engage the sides of the irons 3and are bolted to the foundation as at 36, and to the channel irons 33and 34, as at 37. "The irons 35 are also clamped to the irons 3 of theunits 2 by clamps 38 bolted to the upper sides of the irons 35 asindicated at 39.

Referring to Figure 11, we have shown a modified form of the structuralunits, in which the structural units 2a are shown as havin theircementitious sheets 5a and 6a exten ing beyond the sides of the channelirons 3 encasm the units. This permits the formation of a ush wall asthe holding lates 7a and 8a fit in the spaces thus left an provide aflush surface.

While the particular form of the invention herein described is welladapted to accomplish the objects of the inventlon, it is understoodthat'various modifications and changes may be made without departingfrom the 1nvention and the invention includes all such modifications andchanges as come within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In means of the class described, a structural unit comprising afibrous center sheet and having a body of hardened cementitiousmaterial, and channel irons on the outside of the body, with flangesprojecting inwardly tocentral portion of the sheet, said ward thecementitious material encasing the fibrous sheet and filling the spacebetween the same i and said flanges.

2. In means of the class described, a wall unit having a body consistingof a sheet of fibrous material and a sheet of cementitious materialformed to ther, and channel irons on the outer side of th body withflanges projecting inwardly toward the central portion I of the sheet,eneasing the edges of the same. 3. A structural wall unit consisting ofan. inner sheet of fibrous extending-continuously around the edge of thesaid sheet with its flanges projecting inwardly toward the middle of thesheet, and cementitious material on both sides of the said inner sheetcompletely embedding the same and having its outer face flush with-theouter faces of'said flanges, said cementitious filler extending into and.completel filling the channel between said flanges, 'sai flangesoperating to prevent chipping ofthe corners of the unit and operating asa mar 'nal frame to be engaged by retaining means or the unit. Signed atLos Angeles, California, this 5th day of Alpril, 1926.

C ARENCE H. BRAINARD. REGINALD G. CARRINGTON. ALBERT F. COOKE.

material, a channel iron

